Q&A: Healing Crystals (and more) for Shelter Animals

Today’s post is a reader question about healing crystals, in particular which ones to use with shelter dogs. Our experts weigh in on this subject, and also share a few other ways to help.

Q: I’ve recently started working with crystal healing, mainly for myself. I work in an animal shelter, and am in charge of dog adoption. I love working with our dogs, and want to help them. Many are so sensitive to the kennel environment and people, so I wanted to find out if there are any crystals or combination of crystals that may help ease their stress and anxiety. I have put amber, and amethyst in every dog’s cage card after cleansing with black kyanite. Some dogs have little pieces of sunstone, aventurine and labradorite. Any other suggestions for the overall mental health of the dogs in our care would be appreciated.

Actually, this person is doing well with the crystals she has. I would recommend Rose Quartz and Amethyst, but the labradorite should be removed. I would also refer to the Cow Crystals article and adapt it for kennels instead of cow stalls.

Hematite for antimicrobial benefits and to clear negative energy. Rose Quartz for attraction and heart strengthening. A gift of protective crystals to her coworkers can also help with burnout and emotional duress.

The most important thing about using crystal energy is that the stones are thoroughly cleansed and charged. My favourite stone is Aventurine when working with rescue animals. Also consider Rhodochrosite, Rose Quartz and Sugilite. Remember that animals are a lot more sensitive to energies than us, so ask for permission from the animal as to whether they would like a crystal in their cage. I have written a workbook about how to use crystals with animals even though my preference is now flower essences. Make sure you know which ones are poisonous as some contain high levels of copper. The quartz crystal is by far the best to use when programming an intention.

When we can stay peaceful, the animal can step into this peace. Maybe we are going to connect with an animal in a shelter environment or an animal that has been adopted but comes from a very difficult past. That animal may have a lot of issues, and it’s easy to get drawn into those issues by picking up the sadness or even just knowing the suffering they have been through. Perhaps someone has described some of the abuse they’ve been through and it keeps running through our minds as we’re sitting with them. We can become very emotional and start to feel very sad. When this happens our vibration will change and we will then be in a place of pity, sadness or upset. This can cause the animal to not want to connect with us.

Inner stability and peace allows us to let go of everything; so we can, for example, let go of anger about the past. For today only, do not anger. Whatever happened is done. It’s over. Let go of it. Be present with the animal right here, right now.

Perhaps we may worry about what’s going to happen in the future. For today only, do not worry. Let go of it. The future hasn’t happened yet, but we are here at this moment, so let’s be present here and now for the animal.

Meditation helps us to be in the moment, and that really is the biggest gift that we can give to the animals—to be present with an open heart – without anger or worry or ego. This isn’t always so easy to do, but luckily, animals will really help us.

Essential oils can be very helpful for emotional issues, but the oils would vary with each dog, based on their own selection, so you can’t make a blanket statement about which ones to use. There was a study done a few years ago on essential oils in shelters, however, that suggested that lavender and chamomile can help. They do not specify if it was German or Roman – my guess is that it was Roman chamomile essential oil.

If you decide to give essential oils a go, I would suggest trying to find an applied zoopharmacognosy practitioner in your area; the oils are powerful and can do harm when used incorrectly. Caroline Ingraham, whom I trained with, does not have a list of practitioners on her site yet, but you can contact them and ask if they have any graduates in your area (not only in the UK; people travel from all over the world to learn from Caroline). There are some great videos of Caroline working with animals and essential oils, she holds a lot of her hands-on training classes in shelters.